Andromeda

NOW Time's Andromeda on this rock rude,
With not her either beauty's equal or
Her injury's, looks off by both horns of shore,
Her flower, her piece of being, doomed dragon food.
Time past she has been attempted and pursued
By many blows and banes; but now hears roar
A wilder beast from West than all were, more
Rife in her wrongs, more lawless, and more lewd.

Her Perseus linger and leave her tó extremes? -
Pillowy air he treads a time and hangs
His thoughts on her, forsaken that she seems,
All while her patience, morselled into pangs,
Mounts; then to alight disarming, no one dreams,
With Gorgon's gear and barebill / thongs and fangs.

Andromeda is also a new TV show by Gene Roddenberry (the title incessantly refers it to "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda"). To start you off, it's about this ship, the Andromeda Ascendant that got trapped in some Time Dilation anomalie and got stuck for 300 years until they were freed by a crew that was hired to steal the ship. While attempting to free the ship from the anomalie, they also freed the 300 year old Andromeda Captain, Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo). Episodes later, Captain Dylan Hunt finds himself defending the galaxy from Evil-doers and seeking to restore the fallen Commonwealth (which is sorta like the Federation in Star Trek). The AI in the show is also named Andromeda played by Lexa Doig.

Magog
Also furry, but much more odd looking than the Nighsiders. They have pointy ears, weird triangular noses and claws. They can also spit acid which is one of their modes of self-defense. They seem to have some type of Buddhist philosophy going on. Rev Bem is a Magog and probably one of the last seeing as the Magog Solar System was destroyed.

Personally, this show really needs better scripts. It's boring and cheesy. Why do I watch this show? Lexa Doig. A dumb reason, but Sci-Fi chicks just rock.

The daughter of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, and Cassiopia who claimed to be more beautiful that all the Nereids put together. In jealousy the Nereids asked Poseidon to avenge this insult and to humour them he sent a monster to lay waste the country of Cepheus. When consulted by the king, the oracle of Ammon had predicted that Ethiopia would be freed from this scourge if Cassiopia's daughter were to be abandoned as a victim in expiation. The inhabitants of the country forced Cepheus to agree to this sacrifice and Andromeda was bound to a rock. Here Perseus, on his way back from his expedition against the Gorgon, saw her, fell in love with her and promised Cepheus to free her if she could become his wife. Cepheus agreed and Perseus killed the dragon and married Andromeda. But Phineus, a brother of Cepheus who had been betrothed to his niece Andromeda, plotted against Perseus, who realized what was happening and turned the Gorgon's head towards them, turning them to stone. When Perseus left Ethiopia he took Andromeda first to Argos and later to Tiryns, where they had several sons and a daughter (Table 31).

Conon offers what might be called the rationalist explanation of the legend. According to him Cepheus ruled over the country later to be called Phoenicia (but then known as Joppa from the name of the town on its coast). His kingdom stretched from the Mediterranean to Arabia and the Red Sea. Cepheus had a very beautiful daughter called Andromeda, who was wooed by Phoenix, who gave his name to Phoenicia, and his uncle Phineus, the brother of Cepheus. After a great deal of beating about the bush Cepheus decided to give his daughter's hand to Phoenix but, unwilling to give the impression that he was refusing his brother, pretended that she had been abducted. She was taken to a small island where she was in the habit of sacrificing to Aphrodite, and Phoenix carried her off on a boat called the Whale. But Andromeda had no idea that this was merely a device to deceive her uncle; she cried aloud and shouted for help. At that very moment Perseus, son of Danae, happened to be passing by. He saw the girl being abducted, took one look at her and fell in love with her. He leapt forward, upset the boat, left the sailors 'turned to stone' with astonishment and carried off Andromeda, whom he married, and thereafter reigned peacefully in Argos.

Trance Gemini (Laura Bertram) - An enigmatic character who possesses substantial superpowers but deploys them only when absolutely necessary. Serves as Chief Medical Officer aboard the Andromeda Ascendant.

Rev Bem (Brent Stait) - A Magog who has rejected his race's violent nature and has accepted Wayism, a religion that is very similar to modern Buddhism. (Seasons 1-2)

Rommie (Lexa Doig) - An android avatar of Andromeda which possesses a distinct personality from the ship and is capable of functioning for prolonged periods of time out of contact with the Andromeda Ascendant.

Doyle (Brandy Ledford) - An android built by Harper to replace Rommie after she was destroyed in the Battle of the Arkology. Initially believed herself to be human. (Season 5)

Like Roddenberry's Star Trek, Andromeda's core cast stayed remarkably consistent throughout the series' production. The notable exceptions to this were Lexa Doig's maternity leave during the first part of Season Five and Brent Stait's departure midway through Season Two due to a developing allergy to his character's makeup.

Plot

Pilot

Andromeda begins with the Andromeda Ascendant ambushed by a large fleet of Nietzschean warships after being lured into a rescue mission near a black hole. The ship is unable to withstand the assault, and Captain Dylan Hunt orders his crew to their escape pods, then attempts a slingshot maneuver around the black hole so that he can warn the Systems Commonwealth of the Nietzscheans' rebellion. However, due to sabotage by his First Officer, Gaheris Rhade, the Andromeda is unable to complete the maneuver and is sucked into the black hole. As the time dilation begins to lock Dylan in time, he fights and kills Gaheris, who had intended to steal the ship and use it to fight the Commonwealth.

300 years later, Beka Valentine uses her salvage ship, the Eureka Maru to pull the Andromeda Ascendant free of the black hole, intending to sell it. Dylan awakens and manages to convince the salvage crew to join him in his bid to restore order to the galaxies that the Commonwealth used to control; however, Andromeda's strategic weapons are depleted in order to boost the ship back out of a declining orbit into the black hole.

Season One

Season One consists mainly of continued exposition, fleshing out the characters and the setting from the pilot. Dylan experiences very minor successes in forming his New Systems Commonwealth, but makes many enemies among the major factions in the galaxies. The season closes with the Andromeda Ascendant coming into contact with the Magog World Ship and the crew's collective realization that the New Commonwealth is desperately needed to combat the Magog threat.

Season Two

During Season Two, Dylan experiences much more success with the formation of his New Systems Commonwealth, largely due to the looming Magog threat. By season's end, the Hunt achieved his goal of fifty signatory worlds and was able to bring the Commonwealth into existence. A ceremony marking the government's inception is held aboard the Andromeda Ascendant in the season finale, but it is attacked by mysterious aliens from an extradimensional rift.

The season's midpoint, "Ouroboros", introduces several changes into the show. Trance is replaced by a more serious version of herself from the future, Rev Bem leaves the Andromeda Ascendant in search of enlightenment, and the series' creator, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, left the show's production team.

Near the end of the season, it is also revealed that Tyr has a son whose genetic code is identical to that of Drago Museveni, the progenitor of the Nietzschean race. The Nietzscheans believe that this "reincarnation" will become a powerful messiah for their people and will unite them in triumph over their enemies. For unclear reasons, Tyr does not make the results of the genetic test public.

Season Three

The plot and characterization in Season Three are much less coherent than in the previous seasons, lead to some unpleasant continuity errors, possibly as a result of the writing team adjusting to Wolfe's departure. Nonetheless, the season focuses primarily on threats to the New Systems Commonwealth, both internal and external. It concludes with Tyr's decision to implant himself with his son's DNA and claim rulership of the Nietzscheans, breaking them away from the Commonwealth.

Season Four

In Season Four, the Commonwealth's government is manipulated by the Abyss, which is revealed to be an entity controlling the Collectors, the Nietzscheans, and the Magog, in a bid to consume the entire universe. Dylan finds himself at odds with the Commonwealth itself, and is attacked by Nietzschean rebels as well as Commonwealth agents.

The Season takes many looks at the results of a manipulated and crumbling Commonwealth, and pushes Dylan even more to maintain its unity and defeat the Magog. He discovers the Route of Ages, a portal that connects many parallel universes, and that it can be used to travel to the Abyss. In the realm of the Abyss, Dylan kills Tyr after he offers the Abyss Dylan's life in exchange for the safety of the Nietzscheans in during the Abyss's invasion.

As Season Four closes, the Andromeda Ascendant defends the Arkology, a pacifistic space station, from the Magog worldship. Its leader, Marlowe, informs Dylan that both he and Dylan are Paradines, members of an extremely powerful race of beings that may have had a hand in the creation of the universe. Despite this, Dylan is unable to access the Paradine powers and his defense of the Arkology fails. As the episode closes, most of the main characters are killed, Dylan flies a slipfighter into the Route of Ages, and Trance tranforms herself into a star and crashes into the World Ship.

Season Five

Season Five begins with the crew of the Andromeda Ascendant having arrived at different times in the Seefra System. Shortly after arriving, Dylan discovers that his ship has been transported to the system as well, but it is powerless. It is revealed that Trance brought all of them to Seefra after the battle ended, but she has lost most of her memories and is in a severely weakened state.

The Seefra System is actually the system of Tarn Vedra, the old capital of the Commonwealth. Its star has been moved out of the system, and eight duplicate planets and two false suns were constructed to enable the star's eventual return into the system and the reunification of Tarn Vedra and the main universe, which are currently only connected by the Route of Ages. However, one of the suns is malfunctioning, and the real star threatens to destroy the entire system as a result. As the real star returns to the system, Trance recovers all of her memories and discovers that she is the avatar of the Tarn Vedran sun.

Trance contacts the Lambent Kith Nebula, an alliance of fifty solar avatars, and learns that they plan to destroy the Abyss by annihilating all of the universe, saving only the Seefra System. Trance was originally the eldest member of the Nebula, but left because of differences between their views on lesser life forms. Dylan soon realizes that Maura, the leader of the Nebula, is in fact the avatar of the Abyss and has brought the Nebula under its control; she is destroyed by Trance soon after. Upon the Andromeda Ascendant's return to Seefra, Trance is able to ram her sun into the Abyss through the Route of Ages, destroying the Abyss and linking Tarn Vedra back to the normal universe.

Impressions

I found Andromeda to be a very enjoyable show to watch. Though its third season was rather lackluster, the series was able to recover and conclude itself with a very satisfying finale two years later. The show's parallels to the fall of Rome are quite stimulating, and in terms of its ability to avoid the cookie-cutter episodes that many long-running series have fallen into, it produced an excellent viewing experience.

I was also impressed with the show's exploration of a very different technology style from the "mainstream" Star Trek/Star Wars themes (hyperdrive/warp drive, laser guns, many kinds of aliens, etc.). After having seen so much of that style, it was refreshing to see what I saw as something different. Others who had a wider exposure to science fiction may contest my opinion of Andromeda's technology as "different", but coming from a more mainstream perspective, it was something new.

I would have liked to see another exploration of the Andromeda universe, and can hardly contain my desire to have seen the "real" Andromeda as expressed in Robert Hewitt Wolfe's "Coda". Nonetheless, I am satisfied by the series as is.